A pic done at mid of the last year, based on WWI real character, Mata hari. There is something I always find mysterious about her story: how she dies, is true all she said about her life? how was the the art scene of the beginning of 1900 on paris? guilty or truly innocent? her life is a myth.

Mata Hari was the stage name of Margaretha Geertruida "Grietje" Zelle MacLeod (7 August 1876, Leeuwarden – 15 October 1917, Vincennes), a Dutch exotic dancer and courtesan who was executed by firing squad for espionage during World War I.

She borns in Netherlands, then she lives on indonesia and finally In 1903, Margaretha moved to Paris, where she performed as a circus horse rider, using the name Lady MacLeod. Struggling to earn a living, she also posed as an artist's model.

By 1905, she began to win fame as an exotic dancer. It was then that she adopted the stage name Mata Hari. The turn of the 20th century looked to Asia and Egypt for artistic inspiration. Promiscuous, flirtatious, and openly flaunting her body, she captivated her audiences and was an overnight success from the debut of her act at the Musée Guimet on 13 March 1905. She posed as a Java princess of priestly Hindu birth, pretending to have been immersed in the art of sacred Indian dance since childhood. She was photographed numerous times during this period, nude or nearly so.

She brought this carefree provocative style to the stage in her act, which garnered wide acclaim. The most celebrated segment of her act was her progressive shedding of clothing until she wore just a jeweled bra and some ornaments upon her arms and head.

Although the claims made by her about her origins were fictitious, the act was spectacularly successful because it elevated exotic dance to a more respectable status, and so broke new ground in a style of entertainment for which Paris was later to become world famous.

During World War I, Margaretha Zelle was thus able to cross national borders freely. To avoid the battlefields, she travelled between France and the Netherlands via Spain and Britain, and her movements inevitably attracted attention. She was a courtesan to many high-ranking allied military officers during this time.

In January 1917, the German military attaché in Madrid transmitted radio messages to Berlin describing the helpful activities of a German spy, code-named H-21. French intelligence agents intercepted the messages and, from the information they contained, identified H-21 as Mata Hari. On 13 February 1917, Mata Hari was arrested in her room at the Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris. She was put on trial, accused of spying for Germany and consequently causing the deaths of at least 50,000 soldiers. She was found guilty and was executed

The fact that a former exotic dancer had been executed as a spy immediately provoked many unsubstantiated rumours. One is that she blew a kiss to her executioners,

in 1985, biographer Russell Warren Howe managed to convince the French Minister of National Defense to break open the file, about 32 years early. It was revealed that Mata Hari was innocent of her charges of espionage.

Very amazing work! The light effects and warm colors give the necessary exotic atmosphere, and I appreciate her movements and rich details in her costume. I believe Mata Hari was in fact used as a scapegoat to cover up the military and politicians' failed manoeuvres.She had really been invited to work for the French and got some info from a German baron whom she was involved. A source tells her lover suspected Mata was a spy to French and would have passed her a stuff to puzzle the enemies. This info would have made the French military order her arrest.Would Mata Hari have been just a girl who loved boys in uniform?

Genzo!This picture was stolen, we've been tracking down artist who the art belongs to. While the website is down because of the infringements, here's a screenshot of your artwork:[link]Blog where info is at[link]

The guy doing the selling, Chad Love-Lieberman, of art4love.com (which has been taken down, apparently) has been selling images off deviant art and is getting outed as a thief all over the net. I thought you should know!